Mac nut plant to burn shells as biomass fuel
By Kevin Dayton
Advertiser Big Island Bureau
HILO, Hawai'i — The Mauna Loa Macadamia Nut Corp. processing factory in Kea'au will add a new power plant next year to burn macadamia nut shells as a biomass fuel to produce electricity, company executives announced yesterday.
Darrell F. Askey, Mauna Loa president, said the new plant will cost $12 million to $15 million to build, and will produce up to 1.2 megawatts of electricity.
That will be enough power to run the macadamia nut processing and packaging plant, saving the company up to $700,000 a year in electricity costs, Askey said.
"This is something that we believe in because it's environmentally friendly," and will create jobs for up to 20 people to operate the facility, he said.
Mauna Loa executives have been meeting with macadamia farmers from around the Big Island as part of an effort to encourage increased production. Demand is growing for macadamia nuts, and Mauna Loa will need to process more nuts in Kea'au to fuel the new power plant, Askey said.
The Kea'au plant processes about 30 million pounds of macadamia a year, and will need to boost that to at least 32 million pounds to feed the biomass operation, he said.
Mauna Loa has signed a letter of intent with the Washington, D.C.-based Kona Carbon Inc., which will build and operate the plant on five acres it will lease from Mauna Loa.
Kona Carbon has begun the permitting process, and plans to have the biomass plant operating by in the second half of 2005.
Askey said the power plant technology that Kona Carbon plans to use is operating in biomass plants in other places, but has not been used before with macadamia shells.
Burning the macadamia shells produces activated carbon as a byproduct, which is a substance used for sophisticated water and chemical filtration equipment. Kona Carbon will be able to market the activated carbon it obtains from the Kea'au plant.
The Kea'au plant processes nuts and packages candies and other treats for shipment to the Mainland. It now employs up to 350 people during the peak harvest season, and as few as 75 people in the off-season.
It also hosts about 350,000 people a year on tours of the processing plant, with about half of those visitors coming from tour boats that dock at Hilo Harbor.
Reach Kevin Dayton at (808) 935-3916 or kdayton@honoluluadvertiser.com.
